If you are interested
in becoming an
authorized dealer for
GeoPath, you cane-mail us for more
information or call us
at 408-249-1529 or
888-322-3226 toll-free
in the USA

0 to 100mph
in less than 1 second, 337mph and 8,000
horsepower - the parts have got to be right!

If you are involved in
the sport of drag-racing, tractor-pulling,
high-performance boats or any sport where
horsepower reigns supreme, you are probably
familiar with the racing and performance
parts made by RCD Engineering, Inc. located
in the famous gold-rush area of California.

Over the years, RCD has
acquired a variety of CNC machines to make
the 2,500-3,000 different parts
manufactured.

With such a variety of CNC machines and
controllers (mills, lathes, with various
capabilities such as rotary-tables,
live-tooling, not to mention G-code and
Mazatrol programming), RCD needed a system
that is not only versatile, but is able to
meet the demands of the various machines, so
as to enable the shop to work smart. These
machines include a variety such as:

When RCD manufactures
parts on their Mazak and G-code CNC
machines, they need a reliable system that
quickly outputs the right code. In this
industry, parts quantities are short-run and
there is not a lot of parts to amortize the
programming time, no matter how complicated
the part. To stay on top, RCD is continually
looking for better solutions. RCD invested
in and tried other software after seeing
some very nice features in sales
presentations, only to later find
complications actually running RCD’s CNC
machines, so they again turned to
SolutionWare’s GeoPath/MazaCAM for results.

Natchi
Contreras, RCD’s General Manager, says from
experience "It’s not just software that
makes your parts, a key is the
after-the-sale service and support, as you
can buy all the software you want and still
get nowhere. Needs change and special
situations come up and with SolutionWare, we
not only talked to tech-support, but when we
told them of a particular need we had,
instead of being told ‘We’ll make a note of
it’ with no action, we were surprised to get
an actual software enhancement to solve our
issue within days! This support enables us
to make parts and deliver on-schedule and
that counts in any industry if you want to
keep customers and make money. The thing
that really surprised us is that
SolutionWare’s GeoPath/MazaCAM is less
expensive and we get much better service."

Natchi continues,
"Sometimes people don’t see the value of
annual service and updates, but quality
service and software updates are valuable,
because with the latest features you can
create programs faster and cut parts easier.
With SolutionWare adding new features, this
enables us to handle production challenges
even better. SolutionWare continues to
evolve their product and that gives us more
tools and even smarter tools in the toolbox
to get the job done right the first time!"

"Ease of use and ease of
training are some of the most important
factors.", says Natchi. "With
GeoPath/MazaCAM, if you have your geometry,
it is so quick to program with, a simple
program can be done in 15 minutes. With
GeoPath/MazaCAM it takes 10-25% less time
than programming with the old method, at the
control. Furthermore, when programming at
the control, there are various problems
programming while the machine is running, so
usually the machine is not cutting parts.
With GeoPath/MazaCAM, we can program on the
computer while the Mazak is cutting parts."

A
further advantage is more efficient
machining practices. Take a part RCD
machined that has six lobes. "Were looking
for something better in the lathe
live-tooling milling aspect. With the
pattern of 6 lobes, we couldn’t program to
rough and finish efficiently, because
generating the shape geometry is so
time-consuming on the control. Now with
GeoPath/MazaCAM, we can place cuts where
needed. As with all live-tooling lathes,
they don’t have the rigidity of a regular
milling machine making it important to make
the cuts exactly as needed. We now have a
lot more freedom with the cuts, because it
is so easy to pick geometry and program."

"In today’s competitive world, you need
every edge you can get to stay on top and
make money. With the latest software
updates, we are now making parts that we
couldn’t with other software and have made
our money back from the cost of the
service-agreement in just a few weeks."

Call for details: 408.249.1529 main 888.322.3226 toll-free in the USA

TIP

Do you want to load/save files to the
Fusion/Pro/Matrix control through the Network?

Find the network connector on the CNC (on Fusions this is
an extra-cost option from Mazak), and connect it (via whatever network
cables and hubs) to your file server or computer.

There are two ways to go:

a. You can share a folder on the CNC which can then be
accessed from other computers. Or

b. You can have a shared folder on a file-server or
your computer that can be accessed from the CNC.

Tip: Of course the computer that has the shared
folder must be powered up to be accessed. If you have the shared folder on
the CNC, that means the CNC must be powered up to access the shared folder.
So, you might instead want to go with (b) and just have the
file-server/computer powered up during all times it might need to be
accessed.

Tip: Never share the C: root folder of any computer
as that opens up the entire computer to potential virus infection or
corruption from any computer on the network. Instead, make a specific folder
for sharing files, and share that folder.

If you decide to do (a) (share a folder on the CNC), note that Mazak
factory

settings have a folder already on the CNC hard-drive
intended for Hard-Drive Data-I/O.

On the Matrix this is
"C:\MC_Backup\Other".

On the Fusion and Fusion-Pro, it is "C:\T_Backup\Other".

Although the folder is already present on the CNC’s
hard-drive, you will need to share it to make it accessible over the
network.

Caution: Do NOT use the folder C:\MC_Backup\Programs or C:\T_Backup\Programs
(on Matrix this is C:\MC_Machine Programs) — that is the Mazak’s internal
current-file location and you must not directly change files there.

Tip: This should NOT be your important archive
location — the files in this folder will get deleted — it is just a folder
for temporarily copying the files for sending/receiving to the CNC.

You also need to create one level of SUB-folders under
that. So make sure there is at least one such sub-folder. Suggestion:
Make one sub-folder for "FromCNC" and another "ToCNC".

For example, you might have:

For (a): "C:\MC_Backup\Other\FromCNC" and "C:\MC_Backup\Other\ToCNC",
or

For (b): "C:\NCFiles\cnc1\FromCNC" and "C:\NCFiles\cnc1\ToCNC".

Now you set up the CNC
to use that folder:

On the Matrix, this is done by:

Go to DATA I/O > HARD DISK

Using the mouse/joystick, select the pull-down menu:

• Matrix: Setup > HD I/O Folder

• Fusion-Pro: View > HD I/O Folder

Make sure the name there is set to the full directory
(folder) path as above (not to the sub-folder) and click Ok.

(On the Matrix — not available on Fusion): After
setting the above, go back to the pull-down menu: Setup and note the
menu-item of either "Append mode" or "Overwrite mode".